NEW BRUNSWICK — After less than two hours of deliberating, jurors asked Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman to repeat a bias intimidation statute that he had instructed them on this morning.

The jurors in the trial of Dharun Ravi, a former Rutgers student accused of spying on his roommate, asked their first question shortly before 2 p.m. The jurors started deliberating around 11 a.m. and took an hour-long break for lunch at noon.

"Please review for us again all of Count 2, including the definition of intimidate and purpose," the jury question read.

The jury was sent home without a verdict at 4 p.m. and will resume deliberating at 9 a.m.

Ravi faces 15 counts of bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and tampering with evidence and a witness. The bias counts — counts 2, 4, 6 and 8 — are coupled with the invasion of privacy counts — counts 1, 3, 5 and 7 — meaning Ravi can only be found guilty of bias intimidation if he is found guilty of the accompanying invasion of privacy charge.

Prosecutors say Ravi, 20, was motivated by a hatred of gays when he turned on his webcam from a friend's laptop on Sept. 19, 2010 and saw his Rutgers roommate of three weeks kissing a man. He tweeted what he had seen and invited others to watch a second time via twitter.

Ravi's lawyers say he was unprepared for what he saw on the webcam, and reacted as any 18-year-old kid inexperienced with homosexuality would. They contend he acted immaturely, but is not prejudiced or biased.

Each of the four bias intimidation counts has five sub-sections, including three charges relating to Ravi's roommate, Tyler Clementi, and two relating to M.B., the man Clementi was with. The jury must come to a separate and unanimous verdict on each of the five sub-sections under every bias intimidation charge.

Berman charged the 15-member jury this morning for about an hour and a half, then three alternates were randomly chosen. Two men and a woman were chosen as alternates, leaving five men and seven women to deliberate.

The jurors will break for the day at 4 p.m. and resume deliberating Thursday morning at 9 a.m. if a verdict is not reached today. The hallway outside the courtroom is swarmed with reporters, family members of Ravi and Clementi, and on-lookers from the public.

The trial, which lasted 13 days and included more than 30 witnesses and 100 pieces of evidence, attracted national attention because Clementi committed suicide a few days after the alleged spying incident occurred. Clementi's suicide ignited a national dialogue on cyber-bullying and harassment of gay youth.

Ravi is not charged in Clementi's death, but if convicted of the top bias charges faces up to 10 years in prison.